On an absolutely gorgeous Friday I took a little lunch break and met up with Paul and Will at dog park. I started in Xero’s, disliked them and put on some really old and worn down 272s. It was a pretty mellow and weird session. There were a couple of rippers there training. Paul had back 5-0 front 180, 50s, etc. I had a couple crooks I liked, maybe a back 50 on the curb. Will was later. We all hucked switch backside flip for a bit. Alton showed and he did one in like 3 tries. Mine weren’t even remotely close. Paul left and Will and I played a game of SKATE that I think I somehow won on backside flip even though I did the full under rotated tic tac thing. It wasn’t the best session, but it sure was nice to get outside on such a nice day.

(setup 3/10 8.25 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lites with bones medium bushings, 53mm bones v1 stf 103a pj, new balance numeric 272 size 12 teal with half insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

After work I met Dave at Frederick after the sun had set and temps had dropped. We somehow ended up on the weird lump of a qp that neither of us liked and skated it for a while. I think Dave had started with the alley up 50 and then did it 5-0 as I tried to learn 50. It was fun though we did a bunch of different variations. The alley oop fakie back 50 was my fav feeling of them. But Dave had done it switch too which I got as well, but he added 5-0 to every variation, also had crooks. I liked the frontside versions too. Then we moved 20 feet away to the bank to curb area. Dave did some 5-0 transfers down into the bank that were gnar. Also some Tiago lines with nollies and switch ollies on the banks and hips and back tails on the bank to curb. I spent a really long time doing a line of fakie flip on the bank, noseslide a hubba, alley oop fakie back 50. Slammed hard on a crooks after that, but the line hyped me up. I spent an hour trying axle stall then treflip flyout and finally got one about 50 tries in. After that I was basically too sore to do anything other than putz around and do some basics. Dave was doing nose stall on the bank to curb then switch 180 slide around to nose manual over the pyramid and getting really close. I tried to skate the ledge to end the session. It didn’t go very well, I could barely ollie as my soreness had taken over.

(setup 5/10 8.25 null flaherty, jessup ultragrip, thunder 148 hollow lites with bones medium bushings, 53mm bones v1 stf 103a pj, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12 half insoles)
(pain level 7/10)

On a nice Friday got out with a big old guy crew and Sean at Broomfield earlyish in the day. I’m writing this several days later so I don’t remember a whole lot unfortunately. I know I was first one out in a game of SKATE against Paul and Cass. Cass had a good line of halfcab over the parking block to back 180 nosegrind the blue ledge. I think everyone seemed like they were skating decent. Gordon crooks was sick and all the pop on his tricks. Eric front tails and front lips were cool. Bratcher with the nollie tricks on the blue curb. Cass did like a million kickflips. Paul back 50 front 180 out on the bank to ledge was cool. Sean nollie back nosegrind first try. I don’t recall anything from me really, the front 50 into the bank was once again more difficult than it should be.

(setup 5/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, null jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, new balance numeric 440v2 navy size 12 with half insoles and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Had Black Friday off work but was dragging. Picked up Dave eventually with no set plans and we ended up at the mostly prefab Loveland park. There was some snow on the north facing banks which made for some weird flow to the park. But we basically had it to ourselves the whole time which was great. Warming up wasn’t as bad as anticipated even though I felt incredibly sore. I thought wearing some thicker shoes would help. It did initially. Dave did the f/s halfcab flip line pretty quickly, it was the first thing we filmed. I had struggled to kickflip the hip, but would end up getting several as I tried to line them out with crooks shove, but gave in when filming and just did a bad crooks. I had a lot of trying to line out the ledge and hip, mainly because I was actually consistently getting up into frontside grinds. I had a front 50 then b/s flop the hip. Also almost a front 50 to front board followed by a fakie bigflip over the hip. Had a couple front 50 shoves, even tried a couple nosegrinds which weren’t close. I was hyped to try them though as I haven’t tried on anything taller than a curb in a long time. Flatground didn’t work great but had a couple heelflips. Was somewhat close to treflips and close to front heel over the hip. Dave’s did f/s halfcab flip before f/s halfcab over the hip. But man his f/s halfcabs were so good. Front board transfer was good, quick up boardslide way harder than it looks. Dave worked so hard for the switch bigspin. I took a while to get crooks shove. Dave did fakie bigspin and we bounced to the bank to curb.

Upon getting out of the car I was in so much pain it was insane. Them Strike Mvmnts did me dirty. I could barely walk and didn’t think I’d be able to skate the bank to curb at all. Almost died on a warm up front nose 270. Nollie front tail was fun. Dave figured out the spot pretty quickly. We started hucking and filming after a while. I tried some front crooks to fakie, but decided to try front pivot kickflip out instead. Got kinda close, but I felt so sore and awkward that I stopped. Dave’s crook shove was so good. Back tail, back tail shove. Definitely want to go back.

(setup 8/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, null jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, strike mvmnt transit 12 black/gum with currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 6/10 initially, 9.5/10 at the bank to curb)

On a cold and snowy Thanksgiving morning I met up with Jack B and Seattle Will. It was a bit disorienting skating indoors so early in the day, but we ended up having a good session. We all kind of did our own thing to get going. I had some fun slappies on the bank to curb. Jack had a sick no comply 180 up the euro. Will and I played on the bump to ledge a bit. He would do back 50, back 5-0 then worked for back tail. I did noseslide and crooks, but started doing the crooks in a line with axle stall on the taller qp and a 180 off the kicker onto the pad. It was a really fun line. I joined Jack on the tiny bank to curb section for a while. He was doing 5-0 and switch 5-0 ride on grinds off the little curb. I was trying to line out smith stalls with ride on nosegrind, but never got the nosegrind. Will managed front 50 across and down the main ledge. I did a tiny little front 50 on it, but I was actually hyped as I’ve never popped onto it before. I tried the kickflip then bump to 50 line a while. The front 50 against the wall was so weird. It took quite a few tries so it helped me dial in some kickflips up the euro. Lastly Jack was trying slappy noseslide the top part of the ledge and I was trying crooks on it. But it became time to go so I never got it all the way, would like to do that. Oh yeah, I had gotten little front 50s on it too. Will had done front 50 over it super easy, I think back 50 too.

(setup 8/10 null 8.5/14.25 20 year deck, null jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, xero kelso b/w size 12 with remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Managed to get out of work in time to enjoy daylight. It was cloudy though with rain or snow threatening. I kind of love that kind of weather. I skated in Xero shoes because I’m sick of all the pain from skate shoes. It went well actually. I started in the front at the curb cuts. Did a line of fakie flip, sw 180 into a curb cut, kickflip out of the next one. Then I went to the side. Did a few slappies, not really heavy on the flippers. Tried a line of b/s flip into the little hill, fakie bigflip. But never got the fakie bigflip. Nollie flips whipped around but I never got both feet on. Extended the line to start with a front axle stall on a rock, noseslide jib a bench that whiggles, nollie 180, switch 180, b/s flop into the hill. Ended trying switch slappy crooks and got a couple that felt good.

(setup 5/10 null 8.3 smoke valley, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm bones stf v1 103a, xero kelso b/w size 12 with remind cush impact insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Went to campus after work as it got dark. I had been a terrible mood all day. Skating didn’t really change that. I had started at the mini bank to two stair. I hadn’t done any exercises and it showed by how off I felt to start. But I would get going. I fun crooks and front crooks to fakie. The front crooks to fakie was so extra fun it was almost worth the session. Then I started lining out from the downhill ledge across the street. I did a line of noseslide, ollie off the curb, ollie up the curb, front crook to fakie. Was hyped on that. Then took a while to get noseslide to fakie, switch 180 off the curb, ollie up the curb, front tail stall shove. The tail stall shove took way too many tries similar to Loveland a couple of days before. Argh. Then I went slightly down the hill to the weird 3 stair bank area and posed some treflips to fakie and front heels before realizing I had no juice left and walked back to the car. Oh, well I guess I tried to ollie onto a ledge near the business building, but not really.

(setup 5/10 null smoke valley 8.3, jessup ultragrip, thunder hollow lite 149 bones med bushings, 52mm bones stf 103a v1, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy/brown size 12 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a really nice morning I got out to Lafayette to finally meet up with the Sunday morning brunch crew. It was rad, so many great people. Also, so many scooter kids, but they would leave luckily. I was feeling pretty sore and had motivational issues because of it. All I basically did was the kickflip on the bank then front axle on the tight qp. I mean it took a while awhile to give up on regular axle stall and go frontside. But once I started getting kickflips I got quite a few of them. Other than that I kind of putzed around and didn’t really do anything noteworthy. I hucked some hardflips on the mellow bank near the end that felt doable but never got both feet on them. I liked seeing Dan do such good kickflips. Brian high speed feeble grinds on the tight qp to parking blocks, front rocks of course, no comply blunt on the bank was cool. Cass had a better kickflip than me on the bank, but the key is that it was singular. Ha. He had some nice ollies to fakie but couldn’t get halfcab flip. Kyle is fun to watch skate even if he can do casper stall every try except when I film. The whole time we were skating everyone talked about going to Broomfield. Some actually did. Garrett wanted to, but stuck around out of loyalty for a free board. Ha ha, but man he rips. Kickflip pivot was so sick as was the long hurricane grind. Fuller had shown and casually did some pivots on the tight qp like it was nothing. Other Kyle, Mike showed later. Will, Squeeks, Scotty, Grey. So many peeps, so little journal. I wish I hadn’t been so sore, it was fun skating and hanging people.

(setup 3/10 null smoke valley 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy low profile 8.5, bones stf v1 103a 52mm, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy/brown size 12, half insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 6/10 I hate newish 440s they hurt so bad)

Met up with Hayden, Bo, Noè, Zach and Connor at the og prefab Loveland park. It was worse than I remember. Bo and Noè ripped it though. Bo with the mega pop. Noè doing impossible flippers on the steep metal qp.

Then we rolled 100 feet to the pole jam/bank to rock/curb spot. It was weirder than anticipated. Hayden’s pole jam was awesome. I felt super odd on my board, but would finally start doing tail stalls which were fun and the shove out felt so great because of the mini stairs in the roll away. Then we went to a nearby gate to hill bomb that you could grind. Hayden and Bo 50’d it. Noè and Connor did a million flip tricks into the “hip”.

Then we went to this amazing spot we’ve eyed for years right off 287. It of course was infinitely harder to skate than it looks. The rough asphalt surrounding it makes it hard to judge speed, the knobs aren’t good either. That didn’t stop Hayden from doing a sick pop shove manual super casually. Noè did nose manual nollie flip before I had even ollied up. He also went on to learn switch manual switch flip out. Bo had a cool manual to back lip. Connor had a crazy crook shove. I took forever to do a kickflip to fakie from the upper level down one level. I did have a fun line though of bump to crooks then curve around and kickflip into a bank.

(setup 2/10 8.5 nullosaur, null grip, venture v8 baseplate titanium 5.8 hanger bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic 51mm, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy/brown size 12 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 5/10)

On a cool night I met up with Cass, Ladd and Will as it got dark at Lafayette park. I have not been there in a couple of years and was quickly reminded of the weird scene there as a fight unfolded. That always makes for a weird vibe. I had put the longer 8.5 on and did not like with the exception of feebles on the tight qp to curb. It was mostly a random session. Ladd ripped the transition before having to leave pretty quickly. We did some slappies on the tight qp to curb. Are they still called slappies? I don’t know but they feel like slappies. The ride on grind line was fun although clearly pretty dumb and random. We hit the hubba area kind of. Trick on the spine thing, hubba, tall ledge. I never quite got a full line but was close to kickflip on the mellow bank, noseslide part of the hubba, noseslide the tall ledge. Jake and Nick showed, was cool seeing them. Took way too long to do a sketchy 5-0 on the ledge. There was a bunch more randomness, that park is fun to cruise around and just do odd tricks.

(setup 4/10 8.5 nullosaur, null grip, venture v8 baseplate titanium 5.8 hanger bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 99a classic 51mm, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy/brown size 12 with half insole and currex runpro insoles)
(pain level 3/10)